How—and why—to teach innovation in our schools | 21st Century Education | eSchoolNews.com

How—and why—to teach innovation in our schools | 21st Century Education | eSchoolNews.com

Innovation in classrooms is a touchy subject. To really allow creativity to flow, teachers must be willing to loosen their control of the classroom at times and become more of a collaborative facilitator rather than an educational leader. This is very uncomfortable for most teachers, as many have had the idea of orderly classroom = more learning pounded into them for years. Another thing to keep in mind is that students that are allowed to be free thinkers also tend to question the status quo much more, another uncomfortable position for traditional teachers to be in. No longer is "because I said so, it has always been this way" an acceptable answer to these students. Learning has to be meaningful for these students, otherwise the see no purpose. Real-life applications allow students to have meaningful experiences and also learn to be the innovative thinkers they need to become. Until our education system shifts to this type of a mindset, our students will continue to fall behind other countries' students.